Recent technological advancements lead to demands for further miniaturization of electronic components through, for example, higher packing efficiency. The need also exists for better high frequency performance, and more robust reliability for applications in automotive, avionics, military, and space exploration. Solid electrolytic tantalum capacitors are widely used in those fields based on their high performances and reliability. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,161,797 and 7,449,032, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein, disclose a multi-array package (MAP) design and a manufacturing process that makes surface mount tantalum capacitors with high capacitance in a relatively small package size.
There remains a need for various arrangements of anodes and cathodes within MAP designs for capacitors having multiple capacitor elements.
There further remains the need for an efficient and accurate method for screening capacitors having MAP designs and arrangements in order to choose the most reliable ones.